As the emails keep pouring in around the concentrating and thinning of my Bond collection, one email truly made me pause. It was from a gentleman overseas who was dismayed by my decision. He explained that he is from a war torn country where internet is spotty at best but when it is clear, he enjoys watching the Bond lifestyle videos and Remmerts page.

He was extremely excited about the launch of The Bond Experience and often visited it multiple times a day, not just to check for new content but to also make sure that he saw that there were others like him out there that enjoyed the passion around the Bond lifestyle.

You see…for him, he NEEDED to see that support on a daily basis as it was his escape…his sanctuary. Living in a war torn country and hearing gun shots, bombs and cries nightly, he has learned to cope by immersing himself into the world of Bond.

At times he himself is a spy, on mission and deftly defying the mayhem and chaos just outside this window. This short fantasy allows him to sleep at night and often comforts his racing mind so he can do his daily work.

Reading responses to the Bond blogs allows him to feel a camaraderie to others around the world that he hasn’t met but feels a kinship with.

He especially noted how moving the Your Bond Experiences have been and he eagerly awaits each new one. As you can imagine I have asked him to write his own, if he feels compelled.

But the one plea he made to me, after seeing some of my collection for sale, was not to grow up too soon!

I didnt quite understand what he meant at first but as I read on he assumed that my collection was being thinned because I had suddenly grown OUT OF BOND and quite possibly grown up! His outcry was not around selfish requests but the need for others to keep the fires of solidarity alive.

I assured him in my response that my only response to a Q-like request of, Oh do grow up, 007 will always be met with – I am grown up. But being grown up means accepting responsibility, accountability, and reliability…all of which I have in spades.

But growing up does not mean abandoning those things that provide a moment of fun, levity, and escapism; whether its escapism from the pressures of ones job or the escape from the horrors of war.

We all have a Bond together…